London’s Food Festival of the Future

GUYS, seriously. I have about a million things I want to blog about at the moment.

So I’m currently using my top notch prioritisation skills to try and work out what needs sharing RIGHT NOW and what can wait til I’m laid up in bed in a couple of weeks when I’m off to hospital, having my gallstones sorted out (finally). What an intro, eh? Also, while we’re on the subject of my health, have also possibly got carpal tunnel so there may be more potential surgery. Or at least, a very sexy wrist splint. So yes. HOORAY. I am slightly broken.

But, anyway, enough of that and more food, cause that’s what we all wanna hear about instead of my woes, right? Last weekend I got to try out some foodie bits with a focus on future trends – and there were some pretty snazzy things on offer.

The night before, I’d been out and about seeing Funeral For A Friend play their last EVER gig. Sob. So many tears. So the next day, I was feeling pretty physically and emotionally delicate, but got myself out of bed, threw on my new FFAF hoodie (aka my mourning attire) and shuffled down to Cargo in Shoreditch for Yelp London’s Food Festival of the Future. Although the main event opened to the public at 1pm, we headed for the VIP hour from noon to beat the crowds.

I started my day off by, er, doing a shot of vodka through a Vodka Luge ice block shaped like a robot, courtesy of ICEBAR London. As ya do.

I first encountered the lovely guys from Lic at the Mulled Wine Festival in December last year, where they were giving out free mulled wine ice pops. As Conor doesn’t much like mulled wine (top person to take to a Mulled Wine event, eh?), he actually got one of the Mojito pops and it was really tasty, so I was happy to see Lic back for the Future Food Fest.

Lic’s ice pops are basically a boozy Calippo, and the Mojito is really refreshing and summery. Getting tipsy on ice lollies? Yes please.

After my morning vodka wake-up call and a half pint of cider, I definitely needed some stodge in my belly for lunch – thankfully, Big Apple Hot Dogs provided us with some filling sausage-y goodness (*insert innuendo here*). Okay, they didn’t really fit the futuristic theme – but they definitely follow the current trend of us consumers wanting locally produced, high quality ingredients. Their pork is free range, and the soft and fluffy buns come courtesy of a local family baker. I’d be pretty happy if I was still eating these while riding around on my hoverboard.

We also got to try out some truffles made using cricket flour. Yep, actual crickets. Strange idea, but honestly couldn’t tell and they tasted pretty good!

Savoury food is defo my bag, and I love a good dipping session when it comes to getting the carbs out. Chic P‘s hummus is made from surplus fruit and veggies, with a focus on reducing food waste. The raw vegetable ingredients make them colourful and full of flavour. Okay, I was a bit freaked out by the beetroot one (weird fear, don’t ask), but the kale and rosemary was actually delicious.

Game of Drones. Yep, that’s a coffee delivery drone. Except it was serving up the classic lil’ Yelp mint tins instead of coffee. Which is okay, as I don’t like coffee all that much.

As well as the food and drink on offer, we also got to try out some Virtual Reality, taking a walk around New York with Visualise. It was a pretty peculiar experience at first (especially looking down and realising you were stood on someone’s head…), but once I got used to it I loved being able to get a 360 view of the city (confirming that I DEFINITELY need to go back there again soon). The guys at the stall told us a bit about VR, and turns out you can actually pick up a headset for around £150, which is actually a fair bit cheaper than I’d have expected. If you can’t afford to send me to New York for Christmas, sweet gift-givers, you know what to do.

Before leaving, we grabbed some ice cream from Greedy Goat. Made from goat’s milk, it has 10% less lactose and a smaller fat content than normal ice cream. I wolfed down some Mango and Strawberry sorbet and it was probably one of the best desserts I’ve had in quite a while. You can catch ’em showing off their flavours down at Borough Market.

(Also, I REALLY want this little goat mascot to be my newest cuddly pal. I like goats.)

Although the festival wasn’t perhaps as ‘futuristic’ as I was expecting, there were definitely some great vendors there and I loved trying out some of the latest innovations in food and drink trends. Seemingly, the food world definitely seems to be heading towards a more ethical, sustainable way of creating tasty things, which I can totally get behind. Add to that the fact that the sun was shining and the venue had a lovely outdoor space to sit in, I definitely enjoyed some tasty eats and drinks and tried out some new things. Sunday afternoon, done well.

Ooooh it still sounds like a great day out – it doesn’t sound quite as futuristic as I would expect either! I love the current waves certain companies are making to reduce food waste. It really is something I would like to see a lot more.

Soooooo… am I the only person who expected food served by robots? And made by robots. And possibly for the food itself to turn you into a robot, in order to usher in the age of our new robot overlords? Was that just me? Ok then. Nice hotdog!